..........................................................................................................................................................................................................
mapei
i know i've said it before, but i think it's worth reminding ourselves that cycle sport as we currently know it (jim) would not survive at its current level were it not for commercial sponsorship. if it wasn't for a number of large and small businesses willing to plough their hard-earned marketing cash into having their name plastered all over a fast moving cyclist, there's every likelihood that cycling would command as much attention as a game of dominoes down the pub (so i'm told). well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but take a look at the history of the sport; the tour de france was born from a need to sell more yellow newspapers, while the giro needed to do the same for pink. het nosebleed is sponsored by a belgian newspaper, and the amstel gold is named after the beer of the same name, and though now long gone, the milk race rather gives the game away as to where its wherewithal arrived from. there are very many more from the inception of cycle racing all the way to the present day, something likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
and thank goodness for that.
but aside from sponsoring races, my initial foray suggested that the colours borne by the riders' polyester jerseys are rarely there for aesthetic purposes. polti and castorama spring to mind as particularly inept attempts to pervert the course of good design, and there must be many a professional concern looking back through the framed photos on the wall, wondering what on earth they were thinking when trying to promote the brand. it is also worth observing that certain jersey designs that were once thought to embody the aesthetic taste of stevie wonder, are now regarded as iconic, a word overused almost as much as the oft repeated epic. it could be successfully argued that one or two jerseys comfortably inhabit both adjectives quite comfortably, though we likely all have our favourites. one man's polti is another man's footon servetto.
which sort of brings us neatly, if a little contrivedly, to mapei. though it would be hard to tell from the design of their fondly remembered jersey, mapei the company is a world leader in adhesives and building products. founded in 1937, its main claim to fame is its internationalisation commencing in the 1960s,
bringing it not only closer to local markets around the world, but simultaneously reducing distribution costs. from those essentially small beginnings, mapei now consists of 63 subsidiary companies with 57 production facilities in over 26 countries. that's who and what it is, but other than justifying why giorgio squinzi had the money to sponsor a cycle team in the first place, such information takes a lowly second place to the achievements of its cycle team.
at least in the prejudicial eyes of the cycling fan it does.
beginning life in 1993 as mapei-bc azzuro viner, the team spanned nine years in the professional peloton, heading the uci team classification from their second year of sponsorship (1994) until the start of this century (2000), regaining the title yet again in 2002. the following year (2003) mapei left the top level of cycle sport with the team changing identity to that of quick step-davitamon. throughout virtually the entire length of mapei's sponsorship, the team was associated with colnago bicycles, commencing 1994 with mapei claas up until the point where the name changed. mapei undoubtedly gave the colnago c40 its greatest victories, underlining ernesto's faith in a lugged carbon fibre frame.
many of the world's premier riders passed through the ranks of mapei, including tony rominger, michele bartoli, andrea tafi, franco ballerini, paulo bettini and the lion of flanders, johan museeuw, most securing multiple victories under the direction of directeur sportif and then
manager, patrick lefevre. the team was unlikely to be the one you'd choose for your fantasy tour, but at times they were all but unbeatable in the spring classics, particularly the hell of the north, paris roubaix. they were victorious in this race a total of five times, managing to garner the first three places in 1996, 1998 and 1999. on one of those three occasions, we almost experienced the furore that follows a formula one team finishing according to team orders, when the 1996 edition was decided by lefevre in conversation with giorgio squinzi 15km from the finish line in roubaix stadium. squinzi was in milan and confirmed that museeuw was to cross the line first.
though tony rominger won the 1994 vuelta espana and the 1995 giro d'italia, the grand tours were probably better forgotten about as far as the men with the coloured cubes on their jerseys were concerned. rominger also took the world hour record on my birthday in 1994, setting it at 53.832km, then pushing it further again on guy fawkes night in the same year (55.291km).
the team's demise as mapei quick-step came at the end of the 2002 season, having gained 94 victories in that year alone. mapei's involvement with the sport was dissolved under the cloud of yet another peloton drug scandal, giorgio squinzi announcing his withdrawal in may of the 2003 season. they have continued to involve themselves in the world of cycling since that date, but at a considerably lower level. in 2010 they returned to top level cycling by supporting the uci world championships in australia.
but was the jersey design any good?
the answer to that question sort of depends on whether you were a classics fan, whether you favoured any of their star riders over the years (and it would be hard to find anyone who didn't have a favourite at one time or another) and whether you were of the peletonese happy to wear team jerseys on the sunday ride. a flurry of multi coloured cubes across a dark blue background surely can't have been the ideal way to advertise what mapei actually did for a living, but the abstractness of it all had plenty of time to grow not only more familar, but, perhaps grudgingly more acceptable as each year's classics season rolled by. having it not remain a familiar part of the pelotonic sublimation since early this century has allowed the design to insinuate itself as one of the more iconic of the sport's history, an insinuation that continues to this very day. while there are several favourites that have all but disappeared from view, jerseys that require an honours degree in e-bay to acquire, the mapei jersey seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance thanks not only to santini of italy, but mick and andy at the irreplaceable prendas ciclismo.
not only is it possible to equip yourself with a mapei jersey to emulate whichever of your heroes you may wish so to do on the sunday ride, this can be accessorised into virtually the entire kit as provided to the team riders. bib shorts, arm warmers, bib tights, socks, cap, gilet and long-sleeve jersey are all available in mapei decor. all you'd have to do is search out a mapei painted colnago c40 and there's every likelihood you could pass for johan at rapha's hell of the north on april 9. bearing in mind the quality for which santini have become renowned, these mapei items are about as far from parody and pastiche as it's possible to get, starting at £3.95 for the socks and working up to £69.95 for the bib tights.
quench your thirst for nostalgia and outfit yourself like bettini as the spring classics begin to bite.
many thanks to mick and andy at prendas for assistance with this article.
posted thursday 10 march 2011
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................